Follow the Stories | Las Vegas, Nevada (2008)

"Only Angels Have Wings": A Model Performance

A scene from the film showing the Barranca Airways plane taking off in a storm provided strong visual evidence that Gregg's model is an authentic prop. Watch the scene.

A close comparison of the model and the movie shows the matching cockpits.

Gregg bought his model plane at a southern California swap meet for just under $200, but with its impressive provenance it has an auction value of $5,000 today, according to appraiser Noel Barrett.

At the Las Vegas ANTIQUES ROADSHOW in August 2007, toys and games appraiser Noel Barrett, of Reyne Gallery in Cincinnati, Ohio, talked to a guest named Gregg about a model airplane he'd bought at a swap meet in southern California for $195. Gregg said the model, a beaten-up old single-engine branded "BARRANCA AIRWAYS LTD" on the side, had a tag on it that said "movie prop." After a little investigating he determined that if it was indeed authentic it would have been a prop from the 1939 Howard Hawks action-adventure film Only Angels Have Wings, starring Cary Grant, Jean Arthur, and Rita Hayworth.

Watch this model's Hollywood debut in Only Angels Have Wings!

Noel explained that in the 1970s many film studios sold off their vast prop collections for "giveaway prices." But more recently, thanks to specialty auction houses, such props have enjoyed a booming new market. He emphasized too that finding visual evidence to establish an object as an authentic prop from a specific film is key to its value in the marketplace.

In Gregg's case, this particular scene from the film gives an excellent opportunity to compare the airplane in the movie with the prop Gregg bought — a perfect match in practically every detail. With this firm visual evidence and the model's impressive provenance from such a well-known Howard Hawks film, Noel estimated the prop's value today at $5,000.

This brief scene from Only Angels Have Wings provides strong visual evidence that the model Gregg bought for $195 is in fact an authentic prop from the 1939 film. Appraiser Noel Barrett said that with such impressive provenance the prop would have an auction value today of around $5,000.